


Godshatter

by Achariyth



Category: SANDERSON Brandon - Works, Touhou Project
Genre: Cosmere, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-21
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-16 19:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achariyth/pseuds/Achariyth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Devotion, Dominion, Odium, Endowment, Honor, Preservation, Ruin, Cultivation. Each a Shard from the past now set to change Gensokyo's future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Odium

***

Kanako Yasaka sat alone in her shrine, gazing into a fire-blackened oak bowl. Occasionally, images would flicker across the still water, only to settle back into a reflection of the goddess's face.

"The sixteenth day of the sixteenth year," she muttered. Always sixteen, such an odd number for ritual. Then again, this wasn't her ritual.

"It's time!" a child's voice chanted. Thin arms wrapped around Kanako's neck, sloshing water out of the bowl in her hands. So much for an evening of quiet meditation.

"I know," the sky goddess said, slipping her head under Suwako Moriya's arms. "And you're not supposed to be here. This is Yamato business."

Suwako planted her hands on her hips. "Well, I'm making it Moreya business. You never let me help. Besides, I shouldn't have to hide. Sanae knows me already."

Suwako's existence used to be one of the most guarded secrets of the Moreya shrine's liturgy. But Kanako herself had written the liturgy, and those who knew the shrine's true history would have been shocked at how incomplete a chronicle Kanako had gifted to her followers.

"I'll be introducing Sanae to the mysteries of the Yamato, As close as you and I may be, you are still not a goddess of my pantheon."

The diminutive earth goddess laughed. "Neither are you, really. You hide behind my name, after all, oh 'great goddess Moreya.'"

"Only because those cursed demons wouldn't listen to me otherwise," Kanako said, frowning as she set the bowl on a stone by her feet. The sky goddess stood, towering over the earth goddess. "Can't you give me one day alone with my priestess so I can initiate her to a deeper faith?

"I know what you're going to teach her," Suwako sang. Kanako's eyes widened as the child-like goddess traced a complex figure around an pair of Xs. Light trailed from her fingertips as they moved through the air.

"You've been spying on me," Kanako said, her eyes narrowing.

"I love secrets, especially when they involve my girls," Suwako said. The child goddess didn't look like she had ever been kissed, much less borne children, but Kanako had spent centuries watching over Suwako's descendants. The earth goddess's face fell as the glowing lines in the air faded away. "I almost had it that time."

Kanako covered her free hand behind a sleeve just long enough to wipe away a set of glowing lines beneath her fingers. "I just ask that you trust me. I won't harm Sanae, you know that. So, please, don't do that again. It's too dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

"I know that's a light spell. Gracia was never as clever in hiding her secrets as she thought she was," Suwako said.

Kanako sighed as she remembered Sanae's great-grandmother. "I still miss her."

Suwako wiped her eyes. "I do too. She left us too soon. Say, Kanako, what do you think Gracia would say about all this? About Gensokyo?"

The sky goddess laughed. "I don't think she'd even notice. She'd be too busy trying to marry Sanae off. And when that was done, probably Reimu and Marisa as well."

Suwako laughed and arched her back. For an instant, the old goddess of Moreya took her adult form. "As if Sanae needs to worry. She takes after her great-great-grandmother's side of the family after all."

"If she's anything like you, you old horny toad, she'll have a belly full before she's twenty."

"At least one priestess will fulfill her duties. For a girl that's supposed to produce an heiress, Reimu still hasn't found a more interesting use for men than for heavy lifting."

Kanako hid her smile behind a hand. "Are you claiming Reimu as your project now?"

"Hardly," Suwako said, a smile growing on her lips. "But the barrier is important. And if we play our cards right..." The goddesses were always scheming for more faith. The again, they were still around when most of the native gods and many of the Yamato that replaced them were no longer.

"Why don't you check up on your new charge." Kanako laughed as she pushed Suwako through the shrine's door.

Suwako planted her hands against the doorjamb. "Kanako, I will be there tomorrow. Don't think you can stop me."

"We'll see." Kanako's smile grew strained, but she managed to shove the earth goddess out of the shrine. Kneeling back towards the hearth's fire, she picked up the oak bowl and waited for the water to settle.

***

"Wake up, Kanako!" Kanako awoke with a start, leaping to her feet. Sanae backed away, letting sunlight from the doorway flood into her goddess's eyes.

"Are you okay?" Sanae said. "It isn't like you to sleep out here."

Kanako turned her head and blinked away purple afterimages. It wasn't like her to sleep in at all. However, the images in the bowl had been fleeting. For the briefest of moments, she had seen a cherry tree in the watery reflections. After that, sleep must have claimed her. "I'm fine. Have you been practicing?"

Sanae's shoulders slumped. "Please, no more calligraphy." The priestess rubbed at her ink-stained fingers.

"It's a test of Devotion," Kanako said.

"I followed you here," Sanae said. "That should be proof enough."

"Indeed," Kanako said with a smile. None of the other shrine maidens outside had followed her into Gensokyo. "Consider it tradition, though."

"I thought I knew all the traditions of the shrine," Sanae said. "And all the holy symbols. So what's with all the weird shapes you've had me draw?" She held up a charm with a series of circles and wavy boxes inscribed within.

"Come with me and find out," Kanako said, gliding out of the shrine. She smiled as the morning heat seeped into her skin. Another warmth filled her as well, one she hadn't felt for just over sixteen years, since just before Sanae first drew breath. "Here," she said, stopping in the middle of the shrine's courtyard. The goddess knelt and drew a straight line into the dirt and then bisected it with a wavy curve. Two dots completed the symbol, and a pale radiance filled it's lines. "Does this look familiar?"

Sanae knelt next to her. "You've only made me draw that a hundred times in the last two weeks. The glow's new, though."

"Today's a special day, and I have much to tell you."

"Mom already gave me the birds and bees speech," Sanae said, smirking. "And you don't want to know Suwako's version."

"I've heard it before," Kanako said, grimacing. "And that's not what I meant. Think of this as me giving you your magical inheritance. Try drawing that next to mine." She pointed to the glowing symbol.

Sanae sighed as she traced a smaller version. It, too, glowed, but where Kanako's provided a steady light, Sanae's flared before melting away as if she had never drawn it. She backed away, making signs to ward away evil. "What just happened?"

"You drew it wrong."

"'I drew it wrong?' Wait, you're teaching me calligraphy as magic?" Sanae said, staring at her goddess incredulously. She sighed, and relaxed. "Well, it makes as much sense as anything else around here, I guess. So, how does it work?"

Kanako sighed. At least this was going better than Gracia's first day of learning had. "You know how magic circles focus energy to a magician while she's casting?" Sanae thought about several of the craters left by Marisa's more cutting-edge magical experiments and shuddered. "This is similar, except these shapes are both focus and spell. You can draw these and walk away, and the magic will still work as long as the symbol lasts."

The priestess paled. "Just please tell me that Marisa can't do this."

Kanako shook her head and smiled. "Not a chance," she said, smoothly as Sanae smiled in relief. Actually, if anyone could make this magic work, it would be the Ordinary Witch. Where everyone else in Gensokyo relied on raw talent, Marisa instead used guile, dogged perseverance, and sheer willpower to squeeze every last bit of potential from a spell. Keeping this a secret from her was even more important than from Suwako.

"This is the mark for safety. Depending on how you use it, it can protect you or dissolve other spells." The goddess tossed a cluster of danmaku at the symbol. The shot ricocheted high into the air. "Like that. And it'll keep working while you do anything else. Danmaku, spell cards, blessings..."

"I get it. This is really about helping me beat Reimu." Sanae said, laughing as she gingerly tapped the glowing mark. She pursed her lips and retraced the symbol. This time, the glowing lines remained. "So, what else can you show me?"

"Remember, form is the key," Kanako said. Out of the corner of her eye, a small straw hat bobbed behind a bush. Her hand shot out , tracing figures inside a circle. A ball of light shot out, crossing the field faster than any danmaku. Leaves and branches shot into the air.

"That was cool! Do it again!" Suwako said. Her arms flailed as she drifted to the ground.

"What did I tell you last night?" Kanako snapped. She traced more symbols in the air with one hand and flung danmaku with the other. Suwako flittered through the air like a hummingbird, weaving through the light and flame streaking towards her.

"I told you I was going to be here," Suwako chirped as her feet touched the ground. "What's so secret about some drawings?" Light trailed from her fingers as she sketched in the air.

Kanako ground her teeth. Trails of light formed complex shapes in the air.

"Stop!" Sanae shouted. Kanako pulled her hand away as the symbol she drew disappeared in a puff of smoke. A safety glyph as tall as the priestess floated on the wind. Kanako's breath caught in her throat. She hadn't taught Sanae to write without physical media. And the modifiers needed to cancel out glyphs would have been the next day's lesson. Somehow, the priestess had managed to figure out both on the fly. Then again, of all the generations Kanako had taught, Sanae was the most Devoted.

"Looks like I need to teach you caution," Kanako said, flexing her fingers. "That was dangerous."

"Is there any reason you can't do that with Suwako around?" Sanae said, wincing as the earth goddess wrapped her arms around the taller girl's waist.

"I know better than to ask if you'll behave," Kanako growled. Suwako blew the taller goddess a raspberry as she pressed closer against Sanae's side. "You don't try anything if I'm not around."

"I thought that was obvious-" Sanae began.

"I wasn't talking to you," Kanako snapped. She held Suwako's gaze with a cold glare.

"Fine," Suwako said.

Sanae rolled her eyes and shuffled in between her two goddesses, a feat complicated by the goddess clinging to her hips. "So, why are you teaching me this now?"

***

Parsee Mizuhashi knelt next to a small shrine and prayed. She had hollowed out this nook in the side of the cavern to the Underworld many years ago. Two earthen bowls fit in the recess; one filled with water and the other with lit oil. She rang a bell and tossed fragrant sandalwood into the fire. The Yasna scripture said that "whoever sacrifices unto fire with fuel in her hand is given happiness."

It never worked. Not to Parsee's complete satisfaction. Then again, nothing ever did.

The wood smoke filled the cave, reminding the bridge princess of the sacred fires of her homeland. Parsee always intended to return to the rivers of Gujarat, but if she had to tell the truth, she was as content in Gensokyo as an embodiment of jealousy could be. She had power, purpose, and all sorts of interesting people nearby to stoke her...curiosity. Why should she leave what Ahura Mazda had graciously given her?

Parsee checked the stone shelf beneath the shrine's altar. She would need to buy more sandalwood soon. It wasn't cheap, but Satori always managed to find a supply for her rites. She stood up, groaning as she stretched. The Hidden never knelt during their prayers, she mused. They probably didn't know how fortunate they were.

Behind her, a faint whisper of stone against stone echoed in the cavern. Parsee spun around, her hands full with spell cards. She slipped behind a stone pillar and peered into the darkness.

"I have waited a long time to meet you, Lady Odium," a voice hissed, sibilant and breathy.

Parsee cringed, her heart pounding as she backed away from the pillar and into the shrouding dark. She flicked a glowing card into the cavern. A taller version of the bridge princess snapped into being.

"That won't save you."

A dense scrawl of twisted glyphs flared, outlining a serpentine figure. Parsee's decoy vanished in a cloud of smoke. The bridge princess grabbed for another spell card as she backed away, but she stumbled over what felt like a thick iron tree root. She screamed as she fell, a thick cloud of her spell cards scattering in the air around her.

"None of that, now."

The bride princess gasped as thick white coils wrapped around her neck. Parsee's nails raked at the vise until more coils crushed her arms against her body. Occasionally, something twisted and blue flashed across the serpent's body.

"I would have thought that you'd have put up more of a fight." Even as Parsee squirmed against the ever tightening grasp, a white serpent's head floated into her greying vision. Its tongue flickered out, dancing across Parsee's face. The last rush of air gasped past her lips. "You don't know what you have. Pity. I could have used a servant like you," the serpent said. Muscled coils constricted like great bands of iron.

Limp and unmoving, Parsee Mizuhashi dropped from the monster snake's steely grip.

***

Author's notes:

Parsee's quote is from Yasna 62.1 and Nyashes 5.7, from the Zoroastrian faith.

Thanks to Captain Vulcan for prereading.

Regarding Moreya Shrine, yes, the misspelling is intentional. The Moriya god and the shrine have different symbols than what we find in Suwako's last name. I'm trying to replicate the effect with the vowel change. Considering the dueling sets of romanization in the fandom (Kochiya/Kotiya, Momiji/Momizi, Fujiwara/Huiziwara), I'm loathe to presume any orthodoxy in spelling at all.


	2. Audacity

Sanae swept the stone staircase in front of the Moreya Shrine. Even with Kanako's training sessions, chores still needed to be done. The winds could only guess when she'd be able to finish her homework. Sanae doubted that a college degree would help her in Gensokyo, but Kanako insisted that she keep up with her studies. She looked at her ink spattered hands. Kanako had insisted on more and more lately.

At least her goddess had shown her some cool new tricks. Sanae sketched a set of interlocking squares in the air and waited. A minute passed; Sanae sighed and tried again. Rolling her eyes, she pulled out and tapped a spell card against the stone. A dust devil formed at her feet. As it grew, it scoured the stone steps of dust and debris. Sometimes the old ways were still the best. Maybe she could get her homework done tonight after all.

"Sanae!" Kanako said, running towards the shrine.

The wind priestess shrieked, dropping her spell card. As it faded, so did the wind. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't use spell cards to clean," she stammered, turning away from her goddess.

Kanako grabbed her red-faced priestess by the shoulders. "Never mind that. Where is she?"

Sanae's mouth moved, while her brain caught up. "What?"

The earth goddess looked over her shoulder. "Suwako. I know that little slug eater's around here somewhere. I can never find her when I need her, but the instant I don't, she's always underfoot."

"I haven't seen her since breakfast," Sanae said.

"That just means she's hiding," Kanako said, pulling Sanae up the stairs toward the shrine. "Come on, we need to hurry."

"Slow down," Sanae said, hopping up the stairway as her ankle rolled.

"No time," Kanako said. The priestess clutched her skirts and dashed after her goddess, wincing as her legs burned. At least they weren't running up the steps to the White Jade Pavilion.

"Inside." Kanako waved her into the shrine. Sanae weaved around the sky goddess and through the door, landing in a crouch. Spell cards fanned in her hand as she spun around, eying the valley below the shrine. "Ward the door," the goddess said, slamming the door behind her.

Panting, Sanae slapped paper charms against the wooden doorframe.

"Not like that," Kanako said, drawing a circle in the air.

Sanae sighed and scrawled a glowing glyph on the door. Thick glowing lines appeared on the door as she finished. "Is it an incident?"

Kanako shook her head as she rummaged through the shrine's scant furniture. "Not quite. Suwako's gone to visit the kappa." The goddess frowned as she closed a cabinet. "Or at least that's what she claimed."

Sanae rolled her eyes and knelt on the ground. "What's with you two lately? You've been antagonizing each other ever since you started teaching me calligraphy magic."

Kanako sketched a glyph on the ceiling. "Suwako forgets that I still have responsibilities to my pantheon. Besides, you know how she likes secrets, especially if they concern her and her family."

"This wouldn't be one of those mysteries that Mom warned me about," the priestess said, making a moue of distaste.

"Keep what I'm about to tell you from Suwako," Kanako said, ignoring her priestess's questioning gaze. She knelt in front of Sanae, every inch the proper Japanese woman. "Again, I have responsibilities to my pantheon. Suwako and I weren't always friends. In fact, we've faced each other as enemies, back when the Yamato moved into Japan."

"She says that you beat her with a trick."

Kanako laughed. "That little bit with the branch? Nothing but a bit of showmanship She didn't need steel to control the native gods, and she didn't need it to fend off the Yamato either. But Suwako's right; I did trick her, but not how she thinks I did."

"I thought that I was the one who was supposed to make a confession," Sanae said. She winced as her leg twitched.

"Some would call you a wind goddess," Kanako said with a smile.

Sanae blushed. Suddenly, the floor had grown interesting. "I just have a knack with the weather."

"And with miracles and now art. Ever wonder why?"

"I just assumed that I either inherited it from Suwako or it was a gift from you," Sanae said meeting Kanako's eye.

"It has everything to do with-" Kanako began. The shrine door rattled and she sighed "I knew I was taking too long."

"Let me in," Suwako called from outside, shaking the door. "Why'd you lock this door? Sanae, the kappa just found out about your new textbooks!"

The priestess's eyes snapped open and she leaped to her feet and dashed out of the room. "Ow!" She staggered away from the closed door, clutching her head.

"Cancel the glyph next time," Kanako said, hiding a smile behind her hand. Her priestess smeared away the glyph on the door. It faded and the door slid open.

"It's about time-" Suwako said, smiling smugly. Eyes widening, the earth goddess gulped as she dove out of Sanae's way.

***

For a land where even one magazine from the outside world was a windfall of knowledge, the sudden appearance of an entire shrine represented a priceless treasure trove. Eager to gain goodwill, and perhaps a little faith, Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae had lent freely from their libraries. But some youkai, already awed by the wonders of the Moreya shrine, wanted to see what else the shrine might hold, so once every month or so, the hordes descended on the shrine, looking for new wonders.

It was hard to imagine a friendlier or more considerate horde then the kappa. Always deferential, the river youkai never purposefully broke anything, and if they did, they always fixed it. Yet Sanae hated coming home to find two or three kappa rummaging through her room. At least none of the males ever set foot in her room, and no one ever touched her clothes.

Sanae burst into her room. A neat stack of textbooks floated in the air, including her physics book. "Nitori," the priestess growled, reaching for her tasseled prayer stick.

"Hi, Sanae," the kappa inventor said, fading into view behind the stack of books. "I didn't see you."

"I noticed. Step away from my stuff or I start smiting," Sanae said, shaking her prayer stick.

Nitori's face fell. "But you promised that you'd share with us."

"I need those books for classes next week."

The kappa's shy smile widened. "Need a tutor?"

"If I do, you'll be the first to know," Sanae said, sighing. She took the stack of textbooks from Nitori's hands.

"I can borrow those when you're done, right?" the kappa asked.

"I'll even let you make a copy." The priestess pushed open her clothes hamper and dropped the books inside. Reaching inside her closet, she pulled out a pair of blouses and stuffed them into the hamper. No kappa would be rude enough to paw through her clothes.

"I can go get my gear right now."

Sanae winced; if she agreed, there would be no way that Nitori would forget about the books. "Since you're here, though, let's get a cup of tea. Before I forget, though, there's nothing else in this room that would interest you, so could you ask your friend if she'd like to come out of hiding and join us." As Nitori's shoulders slumped and a second kappa flickered into view, Sanae turned around, biting her lip as she smiled. Did Nitori really think she wouldn't grow wise to her tricks?

***

Before Kanako could follow Sanae inside their house, a grown kappa woman had neatly blocked off her path. "I must apologize, Lady Kanako," the kappa elder said, bowing in front of the Moreya household. Like her younger kin, she wore the blue dress and golden key of the engineer. Unlike her kin and most of Gensokyo, she deigned not to wear a hat, instead wearing her jet-black hair in a tight crown of braids. She smiled sheepishly at the sky goddess.

Kanako bit back a sigh. She had played this game with the kappa long enough to recognized the elder's embarrassment. Decoys never liked getting caught, but the elder's abject apologies only needed to stall Kanako long enough for the other kappa to search the house. But then again, Kanako only had to stall the elder long enough for Sanae to find the kappa inside. "'The desire for knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.'"

"May your blessings ever increase both," the elder said and clapped her hands. Kanako struggled not to laugh but was spared when the door to the house opened. Two kappa trailed behind Sanae. All three girls carried steaming mugs in their hands.

"Only two this time?"" Kanako said, raising an eyebrow.

"Even kappa youth can learn respect. It just takes a while," the elder said smoothly, smiling as the three girls drew near.

"Lady Kanako," Sanae said, slipping into the role of the dutiful priestess as she offered a mug of tea. "Lady Renata, would you want honey with yours?"

"Not today." The elder cast a glance at Nitori, who shook her head. "Nitori, I'm surprised to see a niece of mine caught trespassing." Kanako marveled at the wonderful turn of phrase. Knowing Renata, she was more upset that Nitori had been caught than in what the young engineer had been doing.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Renata." The younger kappa's cheeks reddened. However, the slightest hint of a smile betrayed her contrition.

"Go easy on her," Suwako said, between sips from a pewter mug. Some days, Kanako thought that the way her slippery fellow goddess moved could make even the kappa jealous. "Who's that?" She pointed at the trail to the shrine.

Kanako watched as a figure in blue walked along the path. "Is that another one of your girls"

Renata's eyes narrowed, and for the first time, a chill crept into her voice. "I should hope not." Her smile returned. "How many blonde kappa do you know?"

A smaller blue speck floated behind the approaching figure. "None that still play with dolls," Kanako said. "Sanae, do we have a cup of tea for Alice?"

"Yes, Lady Kanako," Sanae said, dipping into a curtsy.

"Relax, would you? This isn't a ceremony," Kanako said, groaning. The sky goddess squinted as she stared at Alice. Color seemed to grow more vibrant around the puppeteer, making her the brightest spot in sight. Kanako rubbed her eyes. It wasn't a trick of the light. She drained her mug and handed it to Sanae.

"Hello, Alice," Sanae called out. "I love what you've done with your hair."

A lock of the doll maker's hair grew pinker as her blush deepened. Shanghai's hair changed to match her mistress. "Thank you and hello."

"Welcome to our shrine. We don't often see you out this way," Kanako said. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I came to see Nitori. Our symposium's tomorrow and I wanted to make sure she was coming," Alice said. As she spoke, the lock of her hair turned an icy blue.

Every few months, Gensokyo's best magicians and practical enchanters met to compare notes and further the magical arts. Kanako had missed the last one; finding enough faith to survive was more important at the time. As colors and whites seemed to deepen into a rainbow of subtle hues around Alice, the goddess pondered her memories. She had seen plenty of talents and knacks over the millenia, but there was something about Alice's apparently new color magic that haunted her mind. "Mind if the three of us join your symposium this time?"

"Certainly. We don't often have a chance to investigate divine magic," Alice said, her hair reddening once more. Shanghai settled into the doll maker's arms.

"How did you know I was here?" Nitori asked, handing Alice a cup of tea.

"I ran into Suwako earlier this morning, and she said you'd be here," the puppeteer said before sniffing the steaming tea. Kanako glared at her fellow goddess.

"I told her this morning," Suwako said, smirking between sips. She held Kanako's eye. "Right before I left to find Nitori."

Only the demands of propriety kept Kanako from screaming.

***

Marisa Kirisame sang happily to herself as she turned the bathtub's faucet with her free hand. Of all the kappa's wondrous inventions, she held hot and cold running water to be her favorite. Little rituals like this one wouldn't be possible otherwise. Holding her plush black bathrobe closed, she lit a series of candles lining the tub with that strange firestarter wand that the kappa had copied from the Moreya shrine. As long as she held the trigger, a small flame no larger than that from a match, danced at the end. It lacked the romance of a proper magic wand, but it was convenient.

Next, the witch set a paperback down on a small table by the tub. Like most of the books in her house, this one had been swiped from Patchouli's collection. Unlike the others, this one, written by some prolific writer named Arl E. Quinn or something similar, came from Patchouli's private waterproofed stash. Apparently, the bookish little librarian loved to read lurid romances during her baths. After stealing a couple books and a bottle of Sakuya's favorite scented bath oil, so did Marisa. She filled a goblet with red grape wine next to the book and set the opened bottle below the table.

Turning off the faucet, Marisa sought the final touch needed for a proper soothing afternoon soak. She'd been making rosewater from fresh rose petals for a week just for this moment. Eirin had lauded rosewater's skin-restoring properties, and no young witch wanted to look like a crone. Her hand settled on the bucket's handle and she gave it a quick tug. The bucket didn't move. Marisa frowned. Rosewater could be heavy, but she still should be able to lift it. She looked inside.

"Hi," Kisume said, peeking out of the bucket. Rose crept into her cheeks.

"Where did you come from?" the witch said, backing away from the youkai. She drew an arm against her breasts.

"I brought her," Yamame Kurodani said. The upside down spider youkai slid down from the ceiling on a single thread of silk until her eyes were level with Marisa's.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't blast you out of here right now," the witch said, brandishing the firestarter wand at the two youkai.

"You left your elemental furnace downstairs," Yamame said, smirking. She flipped over and landed on the tiled floor. "Now, you and I could have a go right now, and I'm not quite certain how it'll end, but I'm sure your bath will be ruined. Maybe even your house. Still want to dance?"

"How long have you been here?" Marisa snarled. The spider youkai just smiled as she walked a single spell card across her knuckles.

"Yamame," Kisume whispered. "Remember, we're here for Parsee."

The spider sighed, pocketing her card. "Right. Now I'm sure you're wondering why we're here."

"No, I'm wondering when you'll leave," Marisa snapped.

"We want to hire you," Kisume said. She shrank inside the bucket, hiding from Marisa's open-mouthed stare.

***

Author's Notes:

Kanako's quote was originally written by Laurence Sterne, an 18th century writer.

Thanks go to Captain Vulcan for prereading. All errors are my own.


	3. Dominion

"You want to do what?" Marisa said, clutching her robe closed as she brandished her firestarter wand at Yamame and Kisume. A small candlelight flame flickered at the end, the sole ward between herself and the two youkai who had invaded her bathroom.

"We want to hire you," Yamame said, winding a thin cord of silk around her arm. With a short tug, the last of the strand fell free from the ceiling.

"Parsee is missing," Kisume said, staring up at Marisa from her wooden bucket with shimmering eyes.

"Go see Reimu," Marisa snapped. She lowered the wand, setting next to a book on a tray table.

"She's saying that she's going to shoot any youkai she sees," Yamame said, slipping the spooled silk into a large pocket in her skirt. "It's far safer to visit the witch who leaves her spell cards and magical furnace in another room while she bathes." The spider youkai flashed a knowing smirk at the witch.

Marisa's face glowed an incandescent red. Just how long had Yamame been in her house? "Sounds like you don't want my help."

"On the contrary," Yamame said, smiling as though a fly had stumbled into her web. "We want to help you. Just think, here's an incident you can solve without Reimu interfering and taking all the credit."

Marisa pursed her lips. Living in Gensokyo meant living in the shadow of the Hakurei priestess, and no witch worth her pointy hat and broom could settle for second place. "And if I say yes?"

"She won't trade her bucket for your bathtub." Yamame pointed to Kisume.

The bucket youkai held onto the edge of the porcelain bathtub and pulled herself just far enough out of her bucket to peer into the bath tub. Her nose twitched and she slid back into her bucket. "On second thought, I'll take this instead." The youkai wrapped her arms around a second bucket filled with rose petals and water. At the same time, she turned and held Marisa's gaze. "Please, find Parsee."

The witch rolled her eyes and waved at Kisume. Time to brew another batch of rosewater, and this time, she'd take extra steps to keep it youkai-free. "What about my shop?" Marisa said, smirking as she leaned against the bathroom's wall.

Yamame shrugged and said. "What about it? Only fairies ever visit it." She named a price in silver.

Marisa threw back her head and laughed. No one in Gensokyo ever agreed to the first offer, or so her worthless old man taught her in his only lesson of any real value. "That's not enough to catch even Reimu's attention. Try again."

With her wish all but granted and while Marisa and Yamame dickered over the witch's price, Kisume happily splashed rosewater on her face.

* * *

Of all the rooms on the Moreya shrine grounds, Kanako's study was the least known. Hidden inside her sanctum, where Sanae and Suwako could enter only at specific times, sat a stack of ancient vellum scrolls, a lit brazier, and a writer's desk just large and tall enough to cover the goddess's lap.

A single scroll lay unfurled across the desk. Kanako's finger traced across a blocky script unlike any other on Earth as she searched the annals of the Yamato. Something about the way colors had intensified around Alice still bothered her. Could it be related to that day, long ago, like all too many of the odd magics that sprang up around the shrine? Had Kanako known how much work one single decision would cause, she would have never volunteered on the shore of Lake Suwa.

_A powerful truth that is_ , a reed-like voice whispered in the goddess's mind.

Kanako's eyes snapped open and her study seemed to vanish as though it were being blown away, particle by particle. Her breath caught in her throat at the too familiar sight. "Not here, not now."

Before her spread an endless sea of obsidian, smooth as glass, yet made of minute beads that flowed with the tide and the wind. Ash colored clouds floated in the grey sky, obscuring a single white sun. She should have fallen into the Sea of Glass and drowned, like she almost had long ago, yet her Will cast the beads beneath her feet into solid land.

The goddess closed her eyes and held out her hand. The monochrome dark sea flowed around her feet, lifting her into the air as it settled into the shape of a ship. Color flowed from her feet, transforming the old Dutch galleon from glossy black into worn wood. The Sea of Glass was too dreary without color, yet the ship would draw whatever had brought her here like a lighthouse's beam. With any luck, it would only be a fairy-like truthspren.

"I see you have not lost your power, Sliver," a sibilant voice hissed.

Kanako spun around, snarling as a white serpent hovered over the ship's deck. Lustrous scales slid over powerful muscles and unnatural bony ridges. "I have a name, as did you, Mishaguji."

The serpent's form shuddered as it laughed. "I prefer my new one. Dominion."

Wooden pillars ripped out of the ship's planking and hovered around Kanako. "If you are here to make me that same offer you have before, leave."

Dominion ignored her, instead focusing his Will. The ship melted away; the beads that once made it now buoyed by the upsurge of a mighty cliff forming underneath him. "Bow before me."

Kanako laughed, long and cold. "And you'll give me power over everything I see before me? You serpents are all alike." With a sharp crack, the mountain collapsed into a hematite rain. "You would have me trade away all I hold dear to become a queen of nothing," she hissed at the flying serpent. Lighting crackled around her.

"I would let your new Devotion live," the snake said, coiling around itself. "Serve me and she will not end up like the other." Metal sand blew away from a small rise, revealing a broken body frozen in a rictus of pain.

"Gracia," Kanako hissed with an indrawn breath. "Die!" Swarming danmaku flew everywhere, spraying glass and magic until the air was filled with a dark haze.

Dominion laughed, undulating around thick danmaku clouds. Beneath his scales, twisted bone glowed. The air around the serpent emptied of magical shot. "Danmaku is beneath ones such as you and I. Bend your knee or be broken."

Kanako bellowed as she threw her arms out towards the serpent. Wooden pillars flew out, smashing into the hematite waves. Lightning forked above the roiling sea, stabbing down into glass, yet Dominion lazily writhed out of the way.

"And you wonder why I refused to submit to you long ago," the white serpent hissed.

Lightning continued to fall around Dominion, herding him towards a smoothed patch of the Sea of Glass. When he passed over it, Kanako smiled mirthlessly. A giant hand burst from the surface, seizing the serpent in a massive fist. Bones creaked as the fingers cinched down on the snake like a vice.

"You learned that one from Preservation," the serpent said, hissing out laughter.

Kanako ground her teeth and Willed the hand to squeeze. Black sand ran out from between the fingers as Dominion's body melted away. She raised her hands high into the air and thrust them deep into the obsidian sand. Heavy gusts of wind bore down from above, carving a deep crater into what served as the ground. The microburst faded, thickening the black haze in the air into fog.

Diffuse lights pulsed through the rippling fog like haze lightning. Dust swirled, coalescing into the black snake heads that lunged towards the goddess with glassy fangs bared. A wooden pillar took one in the mouth, scattering the body like ash on the wind. Kanako spiraled out of the reach of the remaining snakes' teeth, spinning as fast as Hina. Winds and lightning struck down the remaining serpents.

More serpents burst from the seas. Kanako laughed and said, "I can do this all day." Again, she spun through the maze of leaping serpents until her foot slipped against something slick. In that moment of surprise, she released her Will, plunging deep beneath the surface.

The first time Kanako had come to this strange realm, shortly after she had won Suwa Lake for the Yamato, she had instantly dropped below the sandy waves. Terror had gripped her until she had, by accident, discovered the key to surviving: exercising one's willpower. The truthspren she had met later only confirmed it. Since then, she had used that simple trick in the handful of times she had returned, yet the memory still lingered, especially in the surrounding darkness.

The goddess's shoulder burned and then grew cold and damp as something sliced into it. She shrieked, coughing on black beads until her muscles seized into place. The metallic sand whisked away from her, forming a growing bubble. In the pale blue light, Kanako could see the white serpent's mouth clamped down on her flesh.

"I will not kill you, little Sliver." Even through the pain, the goddess could hear Dominion's voice in her mind. "It would end our game too soon. Instead, my venom will keep you here while I call upon your new Devotion." The snake released her shoulder and backed into the falling sand. "I will make this one's death quicker this time. But you, I will keep, for all those beneath shall serve."

Trapped in an unwilling body, Kanako couldn't even scream as the sand shrouded her completely.

* * *

Wriggle Nightbug stopped climbing the Endless Stair to the White Jade Tower just long enough to wipe her brow with her delivery visor. While the Endless Stair wasn't quite endless, the terraces built into the stairway ensured that whenever the insect delivery girl reached what she thought was the top of the stairway, another set of stairs shattered her hope. If the firefly didn't need the money, she would have turned back five terraces earlier.

Several months earlier, the insect queen had the bright idea to use her bug friends as a messenger service. The company had vanished like ice in summer, since most insects couldn't remember what had happened mere seconds before. However, a parcel addressed to Youmu Konpaku had shown up on Wriggle's doorstep earlier in the morning, along with a large pile of silver. Wriggle had been tempted to pocket the silver, but a note attached to the packaged promised even more money after the delivery. A full year's wages in silver was shiny enough to keep even a bug's flighty attention riveted.

"Isn't it too early for you to seek out the White Jade Tower?" a woman's voice called from the top of the nearest terrace.

"'The winds of Paradise are blowing. Where are all who hunger for Paradise?'" Wriggle said, adjusting her visor so her antennae poked through. Parsee had once taught the phrase to the firefly, and it just leaped from her lips.

A white vapor floated around a figure in a green dress. "How pretty," Youmu Konpaku said. The White Jade Tower was the Netherworld's Paradise, an echo of the Pavilion of Heaven. Steel flashed as she freed her blade from her scabbard. "I still can't let you pass. Lady Yuyuko forbids it."

Wriggle held up a bundle wrapped liberally in brown paper. "I'm only here to drop this off."

Youmu sheathed her sword as she floated down the stairs, her ghostly half trailing behind her. "Next time, to avoid confusion, please use the delivery entrance."

"This is my fist time here. How was I supposed to know?" Wriggle said, handing the grey-eyed swordswoman the package.

"True. Just follow-" Youmu said, stopping as she saw a name on the package. Her face lit up. "It's from Master Youki!"

Wriggle's antennae perked as the prim swordswoman shredded the brown paper. "What it is?" she asked, crowding next to Youmu.

Three quick cuts with a belt knife let Youmu pull a thin postcard and a wrapped bundle from the box. Wriggle could barely make out the word "Sheol" before Youmu began reading.

" _My dearest Youmu,_

" _It is with regret that I find my journey not yet complete. I have seen many things that I desire to show you, but there is still more I must learn. In the meantime, please indulge an old man's fancy and accept this token. Remember that it, like my thoughts of you, is only ten heartbeats away._

" _Your master, Youki Konpaku._

" _P.S. Give my regards to Lady Yuyuko. I hope she has found another to fancy by now."_

Wriggle's antennae quivered while Youmu read. The love lives of the powerful always made for juicy gossip.

Youmu held the postcard against her heart for a minute and smiled. She then unrolled the cloth bundle. "So pretty," she said as she held up a sword hilt. Like her own swords, the grip looked like braided leather, but was made out of silver trimmed with gold. The guard had been crafted out of a square of gold. The swordswoman wrapped her hand around the hilt and hefted the metal through a series of swordcraft forms. "But impractical. It's a shame, though. The balance is nice."

Mist shimmered around the hilt. Wriggle ducked out of the way as a two-meter blade condensed out of the mist. "Watch it!"

Youmu immediately stepped into The Captain Inspects the Troops, laying the new blade against her open palm. Water beaded on the sword's surface. "I've not seen anything like it."

"I did once, in one of Sanae's movies," Wriggle said, glaring at Youmu's gift as she slid away from the blade. "But that one was made of light."

"I meant the steel," Youmu said, pointing to the rippled bands in the blade that resembled flowing water. "I've heard of this, but only from metal from the Buddha's homeland." She set the sword against a stone stair and knelt to inspect it.

Wriggle gasped as the blade vanished like a cloud blown away by the wind. Her hands instinctively made the wards against evil. No one else deserved a haunted blade but a girl who was part ghost.

Youmi just stared at the empty stair, her brow wrinkling in thought. "Master said ten heartbeats," she murmured. Closing her eyes, the swordswoman held out her hand and waited. With a ripple like light dancing on the waves, the sword reappeared in her hand. Youmu opened her now ocean blue eyes and smiled.

"I just remembered that I have another delivery," Wriggle stammered, backing down the stairs. Youmu stood motionless as she eyed her new sword, unmindful of the firefly fleeing down the Endless Stair.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks to Wolfsbane706 and Captain Vulcan for prereading. All mistakes are my own.


	4. Preservation

"Sanae!" Nitori Kawashiro shouted, waving as she ran along the path skirting the Misty Lake's shore. "Wait up!"

The wind priestess laughed as she spun around. "Hey." Her eyes widened as she saw the large burlap sack draped over the kappa's shoulder. "What's that for?"

"The kappa bazaar's coming up," Nitori said as she caught up with Sanae. "Yukari always brings the most delightful vendors from Outside during the symposium, and I do have to pay for the materials for my gadgets somehow."

"Buy low, sell high?" Sanae said, trying to remember her economics class. Those words, and the cute student teacher summed up all she could remember from four months of class.

"Whoever said that lacked ambition," Nitori said, smirking as she adjusted the brim of her cap.

Sanae shivered as the two girls continued walking towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion, where Patchouli had the honor of hosting the semiannual meeting of magic minds. As a race, the kappa had recently focused the same brilliance they had brought to magic and engineering to the realm of finance. Fortunately for Kanako and Suwako, Moreya Shintoism allowed interest, otherwise they would have lost half of the believers. "So where do you think Yukari got her shopkeepers from this year?"

"Nice to see that I'm not the only shopaholic around here," Nitori said, laughing.

Sanae shrugged. "I get it from my goddesses."

"I thought they might have come with you," the kappa inventor said, pursing her lips. Her fingers danced in the air, etching a sacred sign. To Sanae's amazement, light seemed to trail behind Nitori's fingers.

The wind priestess coughed behind her sleeve. "Suwako will meet me there in a bit, after she's finished looking for Kanako," Sanae said, shaking her head. "I wish those two would tell me more about what's going on."

"Kanako's missing?" Nitori asked, her face falling.

"She's probably just visiting her pantheon," Sanae said, wincing. "She's been muttering about 'Yamato business' all week. It's nothing to worry about."

"It's hard not to. Things are getting weird. Well, weirder," Nitori said, shielding her eyes and squinting.

Sanae nodded; it wasn't every day that her goddess tried to teach her a completely new magic system, or that one of the goddess's devoted followers seemed to know the same. "I just wish it's something mundanely weird, for once."

"Like Alice with light blue hair?"

"You know, I saw that recently."

"Like right now," Nitori said, pointing further along the path. Sanae squinted at the horizon, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Oh, sorry, I forgot about you humans and your poor eyesight. What's it like to miss everything?"

"Nitori-" Sanae said, sighing.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Aunt Renata always says that humans don't like to be reminded of their shortcomings," Nitori said. A smirk belied the rose in her cheeks.

"You get used to it," Sanae said, cursing that Miare brat's writings. Ever since she read the latest of the Gensokyo Chronicles, the wind priestess could never tell if some of Nitori's side comments came from ignorance about humans or something snider.

_Look out!_

All priestesses came to know the still small voice of the gods and goddesses they served, but Sanae had never heard Kanako's voice filled with abject terror. The wind priestess planted her hands against Nitori's shoulders and shoved the light kappa girl hard. Nitori flew away from Sanae just as the ground beneath her feet exploded in a shower of soil and stone.

A wave of foul wrongness washed over Sanae, settling in her bones. She spun away from the rent earth. A coiled white wall towered above her, twisting and roiling. Serpent's jaws lunged out, snapping as the priestess rolled out of the way in a spray of danmaku and paper charms.

"Mishaguji," the wind priestess whispered as the white snake spiraled around for another strike. Always dangerous at the best of times, few mortals could stand before the curse gods in full fury. At the moment, it was all she could do to avoid the serpent's fangs. "Suwako, help me."

Somehow, in the shrinking tempest of scale and teeth, the wind priestess caught a light blue blur. "Nitori, run!" She hurled an entire stack of charms as the serpent's head passed by. The paper stuck to the curse god's scales, until bony ridges beneath the serpent's scales glowed.

Sanae gulped as the charms fell off, crumbling into ash. Other ridges took on a pale bioluminescence. The serpent spiraled faster and faster; its snapping fangs getting ever closer to the priestess's skin. She flung danmaku blindly, but the magic faded like embers on the wind. Any time the wind priestess tried to rush out of the mishaguji's dance, a wall of white scale and iron sinew herded her back towards sharp fangs and snapping jaws.

The curse god bit down on the prayer tassel in Sanae's hands, ripping it away with a jerk of its massive head. A second bite tore a flowing sleeve off of the priestess's arm. The third bite sunk deep into the fabric of her skirt. The world became a blur as the serpent flung Sanae around like a rat in a terrier's jaws. Cloth ripped, and she tumbled across the ground, gasping as she landed on her back.

She sensed rather than saw the serpent line up for a final strike. Shielding her face with her arms, Sanae prayed.

_Power_  left the wind goddess.

"Leave."

Sanae looked up and saw Suwako standing with her arms outstretched between the mishaguji and herself. A shimmering bubble surrounded the earth goddess, wedging the oversized serpent's jaws wide open. "Now."

"I've waited a long time for this, Lady Suwako," the serpent said. Light shimmered along the mishaguji's scales, and a muscled man in shining mail stood in its place. The longsword in his hand trailed light as it sliced the air.

"As have I, rebel," Suwako said, brandished her iron rings.

* * *

Deep within the Garden of the Sun, a withered sunflower straightened and reached for sunlight. As it untangled, the stem and leaves grew firm and strong.

Yuuka Kazami smiled as she uncupped her hands from the newly restored plant. A faint glow faded from her hands as she stood.

Hushed whispers rippled through the surrounding sunflowers. The fairies who made the garden their home never seemed to grow tired of watching Yuuka minister to sickly plants. From a distance, of course. It had taken a while, but the flower youkai had Cultivated in them the virtue of self-preservation.

Taking her parasol, she strolled through the lines of sunflowers, each flower facing the sun. Medicine Melancholy should be playing close by, but lately, she had lived up to her surname. At night, the doll would stare at a reddish star and mutter about Dandelion Wine or Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Yuuka didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted.

In the blink of an eye, the sunflowers turned until all the flowers pointed to the same part of the horizon, away from the sun. Yuuka frowned as she, too, turned to match the flowers, ignoring the frantic flutter of fairy wings as the field emptied before her.

"I wonder," the elder youkai muttered, closing her eyes. Reaching out with powers Cultivated long ago, she shook her head. The Scarlet Devil's Mansion was that way, but the affairs of other Shards were not hers, at least not until they affected her own interests. But just in case...

As Yuuka resumed her stroll through the garden, long spined prickly pear cacti sprouted in her footsteps. Bright flowers adorned the growing hedge of spikes until a curtain of pink and pale yellow ran throughout the Garden of the Sun.

* * *

Metal sang as sword crashed into ring. The curse god overmuscled Suwako, but the war goddess had not lived this long without learning a few tricks. As the blade slid along the outside of the ring, Suwako jabbed her weapon deep into the man-serpent's scale armor.

He groaned, staggering backwards as he clenched the blade of his sword with his free hand. Wielding the sword like a short spear, the curse god deflected a barrage of slashes from Suwako's ring. The point of his sword dipped near Suwako's knee. He pivoted, slipping his sword behind her knee and pulled up. With a loud cry, the native goddess fell on her back. Raising his pommel high into the air, he prepared to stab downward into his ancient foe.

Raw force slammed into the armored figure, flinging him through the air. Sanae stood with one arm outstretched, her free hand sketching glyphs in the air.

The curse god tumbled backwards and then rolled to his feet. Tucking his longsword underneath his arm, the mailed figure breathed deeply and the shadows reached towards him.

"Suwako," Sanae warned. Her fingers flew faster through the air.

"I see," the native goddess croaked as she pushed herself onto her feet.

Enveloped in shadow, the curse god pushed off, flying towards the Moreya girls as straight and true and as swift as an arrow. Darkness trailed behind him, flowing from his outstretched blade.

Suwako grabbed hold of her priestess and dove into the ground. Darkness streaked overhead, and goddess and priestess burst from the earth, coughing.

The mishaguji rebounded off of a nearby tree, launching himself again towards his ancient foe. He still moved as quick as Aya chasing a scoop, but this time Suwako was ready. She slapped her hands against the ground and a jagged butte rose up to meet the black blur.

Instead of slamming into the earthen barrier, the curse god landed on its side. He stood parallel to the ground, as though the butte was a ledge jutting out from the sheer cliff that was the ground.

"Nice trick with gravity," Suwako hissed, crouching into a defensive stance. "So an old reptile can learn new tricks."

"And you've lost a step. What's the matter? No one believe in you anymore?" the mishaguji laughed. "Not even your little priestess?" He nodded to Sanae.

"How dare-" Sanae shrieked, stepping towards the swordsman with clenched fists.

A slender arm barred her path. "Don't," Suwako ordered.

"So you think you can Preserve this one?" the cursed god said as he stepped off of the side of the butte and on to the ground. Suwako ground her teeth, but kept her arm in Sanae's path.

"Bind him," a young woman's voice commanded.

Out of nowhere, a thick burlap sack flew towards the swordsman, wrapping around his head before snaking down his shoulders. Cinching his forearms together, the living cloth wove itself into complex knots. The curse god's sword fell from his hands.

"What now?" Sanae groaned, filling her hands with new paper charms covered in glyphs instead of traditional Japanese script. She kept one eye on the curse god while she searched for the newcomer.

"I brought help as quickly as I could," Nitori said, stepping out from behind Alice.

The puppeteer held a single Hourai doll to her lips. "Guard him," she said. A cloud of color, like breath on a cold day, escaped Alice's lips, settling within the doll. It floated out of her mistress's hands and flew out towards the curse god.

"So it's three against two," the mishaguji said, laughing.

Sanae mouthed the mishaguji's words. According to her count, it should be four against one.

Glowing through the cloth, blue lines spiraled up the curse god's arms. The sack fell limp from the swordsman, landing in a cloud of faint colors. He shifted, and the white serpent floated in the air where a swordsman once stood.

"Stay by me," Alice commanded. The Hourai doll returned to her side, settling over her shoulder.

"Yield, rebel," Suwako said, twirling her rings as she crouched.

"Not today." His tail slammed into the stone butte, throwing up thick clouds of dust between him and the four girls.

Danmaku, rings, paper charms, and even the occasional water torrent shredded the dust cloud. But it was the wall of color slicing away the bulk of the cloud that caught everyone's attention. Not only for the raw power, but for the way color played through the magic like a Master Spark passing through a mad kappa's array of prisms and kaleidoscopes. When the magic faded, only dust remained.

"Is this another incident?" Nitori asked. She ignored the distant silhouette hovering over the waters of an ice fairy shaking her fist.

"Hardly," Suwako said. "Just an old acquaintance. He'll slither under some rock for a century or two."

_I need to talk to you two. Alone._  Kanako's voice whispered to Sanae.

The priestess glanced at Alice and her eyes widened. "Alice?"

The Hourai doll stood in the doll master's palm. Alice stared intently as it shouldered its spear and knelt demurely. "I didn't command-" the puppeteer stammered before scoping the doll in a bear hug. "Full autonomy! I did it!"

As Alice spun circles with her Hourai doll, she didn't notice that her once blue dress had turned purest white.

* * *

"This way," Koakuma said, leading Suwako and Sanae through the halls of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The goddess sat piggy-back on her priestess's back. The devil had been kind enough to lend Sanae a simple black maid's dress while the seamstress fairies repaired her robes.

"Shouldn't you be helping set up the symposium?" Sanae said, wincing as Suwako shifted on her shoulders.

"We have so many guests that Sakuya needs help that she can trust," the devil said. "Even with her considerable abilities, she's only one person." She opened a door, revealing an ornate bedroom full of wooden panels and cushioned furniture. "Feel free to freshen up. The first seminar isn't for another hour."

Sanae sighed as she crouched. "Please tell me its not another doll seminar." Suwako slide off of the priestess's shoulders and scampered inside.

"Alice keeps talking about new breakthroughs," Koakuma said. A bell rang in the distance. With a short curtsy, she excused herself.

The wind priestess walked inside and flopped onto the thick feather bed. "I could use a bath."

"It might have to wait," Suwako said. She poked her head into the hallway before closing the door.

"Did Kanako talk to you, too, during the fight?"

Suwako held a finger in front of her lips. "Not yet. Is she gone?"

"Knowing just how gossipy Koa can be, probably not," the priestess said, rolling over. "Just in case, though." She sat up and tossed wards against the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Power surged through the room as the charms' magic pushed anything profane away from the walls, including nosy succubi. "If you'll excuse me, you can talk through the door." Sanae walked towards the small bathroom.

"Not so fast," Suwako said, tugging on Sanae's skirt. "We need to talk now. That mishaguji fended off you, me, Nitori, and Alice. When Reimu finds out about that, how long do you think it'll take her to declare a new incident? Just saying 'Moreya shrine business' won't stop her."

"She's right."

"Kanako!" Sanae shouted as a doll-sized image of the goddess appeared on the bed. "You're hurt."

The sky goddess's image sighed as she held her hand against the torn cloth and flesh of her shoulder. "It'll pass. I'm glad to see that you're safe."

"What's going on? First this new magic and then that snake man and now you're hurt," Sanae said as she leaned towards Kanako's image. Even embodied gods like Kanako and Suwako could split themselves to be in more than one place. Each body would be distinct, yet completely that god. "Where are you?"

"He's back," Suwako growled. A shadow passed over her face.

"Who's back?" Sanae said, her head whipsawing between the two goddesses.

"Back in the old days, right after the cheater here took my kingdom," Suwako said, nodding towards Kanako's image. "She tried to rule over the curse gods. They proved to be too slippery for the old snake girl to charm."

"That's the only reason Suwako's still around," Kanako said, rolling her eyes. "For some reason, the mishaguji listen to her."

"I knocked some sense into them," the earth goddess said with a great smile. She cracked her knuckles one after another. "Repeatedly."

"I can tell that this'll be a long story," Sanae said, pulling up a chair. "I'm not getting that bath, am I?"

"Even after we made them mind, one of the mishaguji refused to serve us," Kanako said. "He calls himself Dominion, and he surfaces every so often to trouble us. He got the drop on me earlier, before he found the two of you."

Suwako shook her head and jumped onto the bed. "He's picked up a few tricks since last time."

"I noticed," Kanako said, wincing. "There's more to it though. And it comes down to how I beat Suwako long ago."

"See, I told you she cheated!"


	5. Remembrance

**Lake Suwa, in ancient times**

Kanako pursed her lips as she looked over the crystal lake from a nearby hilltop.

"What troubles you, Sister?" Stone Weaver said. The elderly mirror goddess placed her hand on Kanako's shoulder.

The goddess of sky and war turned her head. The lake and the kingdom surrounding it were lush and full of life, perfect lands for the Yamato. Destined to be hers, if she could make good her claim. Three of her brother gods had tried; none succeeded. "Nerves, Elder Sister."

Next to the goddesses, the man-mountain known as the Forgemaster stirred. "She is formidable," he said, focusing on Kanako with his good eye. A thick blue cloth covered the other. "Otherwise, we would not have been sent with you."

The Yamato yearned to join the petty kingdoms of the archipelago into one kingdom, united under their banner. Most of the local chieftains had sworn fealty to the Yamato pantheon, but the Kingdom of Moriya stood firm in its defiance. Armies and even gods had broken themselves against its iron weapons and stone walls. The kingdom and its goddess-queen must fall lest Moriya became the cornerstone against Yamato rule.

"To think that I might succeed where others did not," Kanako said, avoiding the smith god's stare. "Is it nothing but foolish pride?"

"Take this," Stone Weaver said. A mirror condensed as from fog in the goddess's hands. Motioning to the mirror's twin set on the bodice of her midnight dress, she commanded, "Wear it like I do mine."

"Thank you, Elder Sister," Kanako said. Taking the polished metal, she held it against her chest and closed her eyes. Within moments, the mirror bound itself to her red robes. "Is it for good luck?"

Forgemaster laughed, sending a chill down Kanako's spine. "I make my own luck." He mimed beating metal with a hammer.

Stone Weaver shook her head. "We will beat the one who calls herself 'Queen Moriya' with this."

"I don't understand, Elder Sister," Kanako said, rolling her shoulders as she got used to the mirror's weight.

"When strength of arms fails, one must use the indirect approach." Forgemaster rolled his eyes at Stone Weaver's adage.

Kanako suppressed a moue of disgust. Plans were all well and good, but the goddess Moriya had already shown a disturbing tendency to overturn Yamato schemes. If Stone Weaver's plan failed, it would be Kanako and not the elderly goddess who would lose her inheritance. Cast adrift from land and shrines, she would eventually fade away. "What must I do?"

"Entreat with the Moriya ruler and, with the mirror, cast her reflection towards me," Stone Weaver said. "Otherwise, do as you were charged to at the Yamato court, Sister."

The smith god hefted his hammer and smiled. "And then I shall do my part." He brought the hammer down swiftly on a nearby rock. It shattered into powder.

Stone Weaver rolled her eyes. Sweeping an arm over the valley before the three gods, she said, "Go now, Yasakatome-hime, with the blessings of your brothers and sisters, and claim this land in our name."

* * *

"You must be confident to come here by yourself," Queen Suwako of Moriya said. The tall goddess stood on the shore of her namesake lake, sunlight glinting off of the purple lacquer coating her loricated armor. Tapping the chakram rings tied to her belt sash, she added, "Or desperate."

"The same might be said of you, meeting me here alone," Kanako said. Against custom, she refused to bow. "So which is it?"

"Curiosity," the queen of the lake said, holding Kanako's gaze. The sky goddess found that less unsettling than the Moriya queen's odd flaxen hair. "After sending three warrior gods to reap the rewards of their failure, I wanted to see who the Yamato would send next." She looked the sky goddess up and down. "So far, I'm unimpressed."

"As I am with you," Kanako said. A small lie, but her pantheon would understand. "All I see is a petty chieftain who holds little more than the lake before us."

"And yet you seek to replace me," Suwako laughed. "That's not confidence, just desperation."

Kanako's face grew too smooth as she began her slow circle of the Moriya goddess. "Call it a matter of faith instead."

Suwako smiled, showing more teeth than humor. "Shall we stop with the games? Admit it, you're here for my land. So why shouldn't I run you off like I did your brothers?"

Because I won't be cast out to beg for faith, Kanako did not say. "The Yamato desire this land, one way or the other. You could keep your lands and serve."

Suwako frowned. "In my order, I rival Amaterasu herself. Gods and goddesses serve me. Yet you would have me be the least among your pantheon, and likely in service to you." Her laughter was cold and derisive. "Instead, I will keep what I hold, by the right of iron."

_A little to the right, Sister._  Stone Weaver's still small voice spoke directly to Kanako's mind.

Kanako stopped her circle and turned until the sunlight made her wince. "You would put your faith in mere metal?"

Suwako laughed heartily. "Until men be made of sterner metal than earth. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the surrounding kingdoms have yet to puzzle out the riddle of iron." She pulled her rings free from her sash. "Depart now. Tell your masters that I remain unbowed."

_It is time,_  Stone Weaver said.  _Do it._

"Then I have no choice," Kanako said. She pointed one arm out towards Suwako and the other to the sky. Shadows fled from the sky goddess and light danced across the mirror on her chest.

* * *

On the hilltop, Stone Weaver caught the flashes of light from the valley below with her mirror. Turning the polished metal in her hands until its reflection entered a complex array of prisms and mirrors, she watched as the life-sized reflection of the Moriya goddess appeared in the center of the arrangement. Next to her, the Forgemaster grunted as he hefted his hammer.

* * *

"You will now know that the Yamato are the champions of this land," Kanako decreed. A thin vine sprouted from her outstretched hand...

* * *

The smith god raised his hammer high into the air and slammed it down into the Moriya queen's reflection. The image shattered into eight brilliant lights that flew away in all directions towards lands unknown.

* * *

...and Suwako's lacquered armor pitted and cracked. Dull orange increasingly streaked the purple coating. Likewise, the mirror polish of her chakram clouded until Suwako vanished, coughing, in a thick cloud of orange dust. The winds bore the remnants of her arms and armor away, leaving her in a simple orange-stained white dress. Wide eyed, it took a moment for the goddess to catch her breath. "I yield," Suwako whispered.

* * *

**Scarlet Devil Mansion, Present Time**

"I knew it!" Suwako shouted. The goddess hopped up on the bed and towered over the image of Kanako. "I knew that there was no way you could beat me by yourself. I want a rematch." The earth goddess poked the sky goddess in the shoulder.

In an instant, Kanako's image grew to the size of a fairy. While still shorter than Sanae, she could see eye to eye with the diminutive Suwako. "Can it, short stuff. There's more."

Sitting in her chair with her eyes closed, Sanae looked like she had been meditating. In her mind's eye, she had seen everything Kanako had described as though it were on television. "How does that explain the snake?"

Kanako sighed as she turned her back towards Suwako. "Forgemaster didn't destroy Suwako's power. Instead, he merely split it when he weakened her."

Sanae stood up and walked towards the window. Opening the curtains, she stared outside. "Into the lights you said Stone Weaver saw."

"Devotion, Preservation, Dominion, Ruin, Odium, Endowment, Cultivation, and Honor," Kanako chanted. "Each part a power of creation, and each shard of Suwako's power now scattered across the land."

Suwako grabbed the sky goddess's shoulders and shook her. "Give me back my powers."

Kanako's image shrugged out of Suwako's grasp. "You already hold one. Preservation." She bounced a fingertip off of Suwako's breastbone.

The earth goddess stood motionless, blinking. "That makes an odd sort of sense. I've always walked unscratched out of too many scraps to remember." Her eyes narrowed. "Tell me where the others are."

"My pantheon's going to kill me," Kanako sighed and pointed to Sanae. "She holds Devotion."

Before Sanae could spin around, Suwako latched onto her priestess by the waist. "Give me!" the ancient goddess demanded over and over.

Kanako buried her face in her palm. "At least try to show some dignity for once. You're giving goddesses a bad name."

Sanae sighed as she tried to push Suwako away. "Did I just wake up in Crazy Town again? What do you mean, I hold Devotion?"

"You're the owner of all of Suwako's old powers that depended on her loyalty and perseverance. The essence of her devotion resides in you now," Kanako said and shrugged. "Sorry."

"I want it back," Suwako said. She released Sanae and glared at her priestess. The child-like goddess planted her fists against her hips and stomped as she spoke.

Sanae looked pleadingly at Kanako. It wasn't every day that a priestess watched her goddess throw a tantrum.

"Don't look at me. You said that you wanted to be initiated into the mysteries of the shrine," Kanako said.

"Is it too late to change my mind?"

"Yes. The shard remains with you until your first female child is born."

Suwako spun around and leveled an icy glare at her fellow goddess. "In that case, where are the other shards? Tell me, Kanako."

"Want to guess how Dominion got his name?" the sky goddess's image said. She pursed her lips. "I think Alice might hold Endowment, but I'm not certain. As for the others, who knows?"

"I am so going to clean that rebel's clock when I see him again," Suwako said. Twin iron rings twirled around the goddess's wrists.

"Believe me, I owe him as well," Kanako muttered darkly as she rubbed her shoulder. "Dominion wants to seize all the Shards as his own."

"A curse god with my old power," Suwako said, shaking her head. "Well, I was looking for a challenge."

"How does the calligraphy magic fit in with this?" Sanae asked. She looked through the window and grimaced. "Make it the thirty second version. The competition's here."

"Each Shard powers a unique magic. Don't ask me how, Forgemaster thinks it's a side effect of the godshatter. Basically, you grow stronger in it as you act according to the Shard's intent," Kanako said. She pointed to Sanae. "The more devotion you have, the stronger your glyphs will be."

"What's my power," Suwako asked, bouncing.

"How should I know? I've spent centuries keeping all this from you," the sky goddess's image said.

"I'm going to find out, and make you all jealous," Suwako said.

The door burst open, slamming against the wall. In an instant, Kanako's image vanished, leaving Suwako and Sanae to face the intruder alone.

"What the hell happened out there today?" Reimu Hakurei demanded, shaking her tasseled prayer staff at the earth goddess. She stormed into the room, followed by Remilia Scarlet and Sakuya Izayoi.

Suwako and Sanae shared a glance. In unison, they said, "Moreya Shrine business?"

* * *

He wove through the clustered throngs of magicians without a sound. The library in the Scarlet Devil Mansion held many secrets for the magic symposium's researchers. It also offered plenty of nooks and crannies for the ambush predator his true form embodied.

The dapper youth ducked behind a bookshelf. A young devil walked nearby, looking down each set of shelves as she passed. Swiping a thick tome from the shelf, he turned his back and perused its pages. The devil had plagued his steps ever since he set foot inside the mansion. He could make her vanish with a wave of his hand, but to do so would invite the attentions of the mistress of the house.

She walked away without a word. He lowered his book, a strange volume full of a metal magic called Allomancy, and slinked along the bookshelves. He would have preferred to slither and wind himself through the library, but his true form would have drawn the attention he sought to avoid.

Colors changed around him, growing more vibrant and varied. He crouched, holding his breath as he peeked around a thick wooden shelf.

"Really, Marisa, you'd be late to you own funeral," Endowment said, glaring at the black-clad witch walking her way. Two dolls floated nearby, pulling books from the shelves and occasionally dropping one.

"I have a job for once." The witch whistled. "Fancy, Alice. Don't tell me you got all dolled up to marry Shanghai." One of the dolls stopped her flight and made a face.

Endowment waved her hand dismissively. "Please, she's as mischievous as a fairy." Colors ran across her once blue and now pearlescent dress

"Really, though, you've got to introduce me to your tailor."

"As if anyone in their right mind would let you wear white."

He eased back into the safety of his hiding place, a wide smile flashing across his face. As his quarry bantered, he schemed, for all those beneath him would serve him.

Out of the corner of his eye, a flash of red caught his attention. A shrinemaiden walked through the main hall, lecturing Preservation and her pet Devotion. To his amazement, the two Shardbearers looked abashed, squirming under the red priestess's stare. Interesting, to be sure, but he now found the library to be too crowded. He hissed. retreating through the shadows until he could slip out of the library and away from the Scarlet Devil Mansion

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere stories (the Stormlight Archive _,_ the  _Mistborn series, Elantris,_  and  _Warbreaker_ ) feature a unique overarching story. In the past, an entity known as Adonalsium was shattered into 16 Shards. Each embody a primal power of creation, each are held by a living mind, and the interactions of the Shards power a variety of magical systems. Currently, only eight have been revealed. Godshatter takes that basic idea, and superimposes it onto Suwako's defeat by the Yamato gods. While the magic systems from the Cosmere appear, Hoid, Vin, Kalladin, Sazed, and any of the other characters of the Cosmere will not.

Of the eight Shards, (Devotion, Preservation, Dominion, Ruin, Odium, Endowment, Cultivation, and Honor), seven have appeared in this first arc. The last features prominently in the next arc.

So why Stone Weaver and Forgemaster instead of Ishikore-dome and Ama-Tsu-Mara? Simple, I'm not a Shintoist, and the materials for the named gods were scant.

Thanks go to Felix3D and Jonen C for pointing out mistakes. Any that remain are my own.

* * *

Sanae collapsed in a chair on the mansion's balcony. "Finally. I can't believe we got away from Reimu."

Suwako snagged a lemonade from a passing fairy before she sat down next to her priestess. "I don't think we got away as much as it was Alice's turn for questioning."

"Excuse me." The Moreya girls looked up at the newcomer. "My mistress requests the pleasure of your company after the symposium ends," Youmu Konpaku said, with a bow.

 


	6. Reflection

Youmu Konpaku strode through the well-manicured paths of the White Jade Pavilion's gardens. Although she wore her two long blades on her belt, she focused on another set in her hand. She stopped in front of a rare haggard juniper hedge. Shears pared away branches, floating from one to the next in a mix of grace and minimal motion, just like the sword forms the gardener practiced each day.

She stepped away, considering her work. Some swordswomen cultivated their talents in poetry and dance, but Youmu preferred sculpture and topiary. Not only could she create a beautiful form from shapeless void, it was one of the few visual arts where Lady Yuyuko Saigyouji's considerable talents didn't overshadow hers. Frowning, she reached out to make one last cut. The shears bit into the woody stem with a touch more resistance than she expected.

Holding the tool up to the light, Youmu peered down the length of the shears. Metal shone wherever the perfect edge had been marred. Sighing, she sat against the hedge and emptied a pouch from her belt. A sandstone block and a flask of oil clattered against the rock path.

Her hands settled into the instinctive grind of metal against stone, freeing her mind to wonder. A slight smile warmed the gardener's cheeks. Master Youki's postcard rested against her heart. His other gift, a strange sword, was even closer, just a heartbeat away. Ten, actually, but that sword was an Honor that Youmu freely bore, just like her service to the free spirit, Lady Yuyuko.

Youmu cut her eyes toward where her mistress glided past the centerpoint of the entire garden, the ancient cherry tree known only as the Pilgrim's Shade. Lady Yuyuko had long forbidden any gardener to cut a branch from that cursed tree, lest they Ruin its immaculate beauty with a stray cut. Youmu would have rather chopped the tree to kindling, as she would any fruit tree that refused to bear fruit for centuries.

After learning that the tree had cost Lady Yuyuko her life, the gardener longed to reduce the shade to ash. The noblewoman's mortal body sealed the worst of the Pilgrim's Shade's power, but Youmu could still hear the whispers of a still small voice bidding her to come and rest beneath the tree's shade. In such a way, Lady Yuyuko had warned, did the Shade hale away the souls of mortal men. Watching her lady spend most of her time among the tree that had Ruined her felt like a knife twisting inside Youmu. A shadow had fallen over her lady's whimsy and cheer, and the Netherworld had become drearier for the loss.

Death was lighter than a feather, and duty heavier than a mountain, Honor mused. She sighed and tested the shears with a thin branch. The blades slipped through the wood without effort.

Youmu didn't know why her mistress had emerged from beneath the tree's shadow long enough to request the mountain goddesses' presence, but she had gladly relayed the request. Maybe they could pull Lady Yuyuko out of the Pilgrim's Shade's orbit. She watched as her mistress caressed the tree's bark like a lost friend. If so, she would offer offerings every day of her afterlife.

The swordswoman prayed that the goddesses would arrive soon. Until them she would continue pruning her lady's garden.

Honor demanded it.

* * *

Medicine laughed as she ran through the sunflower fields of the Garden of the Sun, the fairy-like doll, Miss Suzy, floating in her wake. The garden's sunflowers parted before each of the living doll's steps, ensuring that Medicine never trampled the plants under foot. Not that the living doll noticed. Caught up in the sheer joy of running, Medicine continued her headlong flight through the fields. "Miss Yuuka!" she shouted, waving a clenched hand in the air.

Yuuka Kazami turned from her leisurely stroll. "What is it?" she said, angling her parasol to provide shade for herself and the doll. "What did you find?"

Medicine skid to a halt in front of the Flower Master of the Four Seasons and thrust out her hand. A fat ladybug skittered along the doll's palm. "How old do you think it is?"

"A few months, maybe," Yuuka said automatically. She had sent Medicine searching throughout the garden for old insects on purpose. Known as the Pretty Little Poison, Medicine naturally exuded a vile toxic brew. Bringing back a living bug forced her to control her poison. She looked again at the ladybug. Opening herself to the various energies flowing through the garden, Yuuka drew in a breath and watched Medicine's new friend skitter across her hand "No, much older."

"You mean I found one?" Medicine said, beaming. The living doll had become obsessed with seeing a new youkai's birth.

Yuuka slid a wide leaf underneath the insect. "Not yet. She's ninety-eight."

The pretty doll's mouth turned in a pout. "I don't want to wait two years." Only after living for a hundred years could an animal turn into a youkai.

"Very well, Wriggle could use a sister," Yuuka said. She set the leaf on the ground. "Step back." She closed her eyes and concentrated. Energy flowed from Cultivation's hand. A veil of light obscured the ladybug from sight.

"What are you doing?" Medicine asked, kneeling over the light show. As she watched, nearby flowers shifted away from the veil. Those closest to Cultivation's power grew taller.

"Speeding things along." The last bit of energy left Cultivation's hand, and Yuuka opened her eyes. She set her parasol over the glowing veil. It faded, leaving in place of the ladybug a young woman sleeping in a bed of rich black soil. Twin antennae peaked out from her head, giving her the same irresistible charm as Wriggle. But where the firefly radiated a boyish aura, the ladybug girl looked softer, more feminine. Long red hair shrouded the girl's body like the wings of a ladybug.

"Cool," Medicine gushed. "What's her name?"

The flower youkai thought for a moment. "Let's call her Ivy, for now. Why don't you find Wriggle and let her know the good news? You can tell anyone else you come across, even the crows. Make sure they know Ivy's under my protection, though."

"Alright," Medicine said with a nod. The doll took off through the field, shouting Wriggle's name.

Yuuka sighed as she stood. Like Wriggle, cute little Ivy had already found a soft spot in the flower youkai's heart. Many insect youkai had that effect on her. Of course, if Ivy had been an aphid, Yuuka would have squashed her without a thought, even with Medicine watching.

During one of their many fights, Reimu had said that the sum of all virtue was to be sociable to those who would be sociable, and formidable to those who would not. Hundreds of beings had found out over the years that Yuuka Kazami, the Shard of Cultivation, was a very virtuous woman.

Yuuka draped the still sleeping Lily over her shoulders. Propriety demanded that she feed and clothe the newborn youkai until she could fend for herself. The flower youkai looked down at the soil where Ivy once lay and hissed. A sickly sunflower stood alone in the bare topsoil, brown and withered.

Ruined.

* * *

Sanae panted , clinging dearly to the walking stick in her hand. Shrouded by eternal dusk, the black stones of the Endless Stair stretched ever higher before her. Each step thrust burning her thighs and hips to the forefront of her mind. "Why don't we just fly?" she gasped, tugging at the hem of her borrowed maid's dress. "It'd be quicker."

Suwako hopped up the black stone steps until she could see eye to eye with her priestess. "You've got to tone those hips somehow." The wind priestess snarled, slumping against her walking stick. "Just remember, 'Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.'"

"There's no joy in this journey," Sanae said. She winced as she pushed herself up one more step. "And Lady Yuyuko is waiting for us. Youmu was insistent that we visit her soon."

"The Queen of Paradise understands that methods matter more than results," Kanako said. The goddess appeared as an image no larger than a fairy and hovered near Sanae's shoulder. Her fingers traced a luminous pair of interlocked squares inscribed by a circle into the air. "Try this."

The Shard of Devotion copied the calligraphy magic onto her thigh. As the pain of exertion flooded out of her, Sanae sighed in relief. "If we're not in a hurry them, shouldn't we be trying to get you out of whatever you called that black bead place?"

"Shadesmar. And I'm fine. Dominion's poison is wearing off, so I'll be free soon enough," Kanako said. Her hand flew to her shoulder and she worked the joint. Fighting Dominion in the Sea of Shadows had trapped her physical body in that realm. "This trip feels important. Call it a divine revelation." The goddess flashed a smile as she spoke.

"You're holding out on me," Sanae said. Devotion continued her climb, fresher than when she had started.

"On us," Suwako said. The goddess bounded over steps like a hyperactive frog. "You still haven't told me what my power is." Ever since learning that she held the Shard of Preservation, a fragment of her old power, the earth goddess had become obsessed with how her power would manifest. Sanae's shard, Devotion, used shapes and designs to form her magic and Alice's Endowment used color to gift inanimate objects with motion. Suwako hoped her hidden power would make the other two jealous.

"I'm not omniscient," Kanako said. "And I'd like to get back to the shrine before nightfall. I didn't think we'd be at the symposium as long as we were."

"Someone had to ask Patchouli all those questions," Sanae said, glaring at Suwako.

"I like to keep current on my alchemy." The Shard of Preservation sipped from a leather flask as she walked.

Kanako and Sanae grimaced. "How can you drink that? It tastes like old coins and saltwater," Sanae said.

"Never turn down free drinks," Suwako said. Preservation wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "And Patchouli makes a mean salted wine."

During the symposium, the elementalist had passed around wine skins to any who attended her theoretical alchemy seminar. She had explained her reasons, but the dense magibabble had lulled Sanae to sleep. That didn't stop Suwako from grabbing a number of the free drinks with the claim that a growing goddess needed as many minerals as she could find. Of course, only an earth goddess could enjoy the taste of Patchouli's mineral slurry.

"Weirdo," Kanako muttered, gliding through the air.

"Fraud," Suwako snapped as she bounced onto one of the terraces that divided the Endless Stair into slightly more manageable sections.

"Welcome," a hauntingly melodious voice called out. The woman at the base of the next set of Stairs looked like she had just been called from her lover's chamber. A sheer spotless white robe clung tight against the curves of her body. Pink cherry blossoms rippled enticingly across her robe with each movement. A single cherry blossom graced the woman's unbound hair and burnished brass hoops hung from her ears. Sanae both wished that she could wear such a robe and gave thanks to her goddesses that she hadn't. Such dress would be Ruinous to a girl's reputation.

"We have waited a long time to greet you," Yuyuko Saigyouji, Mistress of the White Jade Pavilion, said.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

And now the stage is set for the story I originally wanted to tell with this series. I've been looking forward to Ruin's story for a long time, but I've needed now six chapters to get the right setup. Thanks to WillieG.R for pointing out some of the bugs with an early snippet.

 


	7. Hospitality

"Did you ever get the idea that we're not supposed to be here?" Suwako Moriya said. The child-like earth goddess's legs pumped frantically as she tried to catch up with Sanae Kochiya and Yuyuko Saigyouji. Gensokyo's slice of paradise in the afterlife, the White Jade Pavilion, loomed every closer. However, the murky skies and eerie chill reminded the goddess of the grave instead.

"Hush," Kanako Yasaka whispered. Her fairy-sized image hovered around Sanae. Although the sky goddess wasn't present in body, she shuddered, rubbing her upper arms as she slipped through the air. "Don't offend our host."

"Goddesses are for the living." For all the White Jade Pavilion's splendor, it was still a land of the dead.

"You wanted to come here more than the rest of us," Kanako said. Earlier that day, Yuyuko had invited the Moreya shrine to visit her at her manor. Suwako had leapt at the offer, insisting that they visit on the same day. As the last of her pantheon, it had been ages since she had enjoyed a taste of paradise.

Sanae's smile grew strained as she chatted with the Lady of Paradise. Some days, she felt like she was the mother of two unruly tomboys instead of the priestess of divinities worthy of worship. Those days were becoming normal for her in Gensokyo, even though normal in Gensokyo was relative. No one in the land of illusion would bat an eye at a ghost dressed like a courtesan, two pint-sized goddesses, and a priestess wearing a maid's spare dress as they walked down the street.

The wind priest had hoped the her life would settle down from the constant stream of incidents, but the changes at the Moreya shrine had only accelerated since Sanae's 16th birthday. Kanako had initiated Sanae into her birthright. Unfortunately, an ancient rivalry with one of Suwako's old mishaguji servants accompanied Sanae's new drawing magic. Calling himself Dominion, the snake had already attacked Sanae once and trapped Kanako's body in a strange realm where willpower reigned.

Stranger still was the revelation that, centuries earlier during Kanako's first confrontation with Suwako, the Yamato gods had shattered the earth goddess's power into eight shards. One had settled into Sanae's family. Passed from mother to daughter, it powered their magic through Devotion. Preservation had remained with Suwako, Dominion wielded his namesake, and Alice Margatroid was presumed to hold Endowment. Suwako had already made plans to search for the remaining four shards, although she was having difficulty figuring out how to keep Reimu Hakurei from interfering.

Yuyuko's voice brought Sanae out of her musings. "It gets lonely here sometimes, so I thought I'd meet someone new," Yuyuko said. Although Sanae had crossed spell cards with the ghost queen before, she had never socialized with her. "I've heard some interesting tales about you three."

"Not more of those Moreya Shrine conspiracy theories," Kanako said, shaking her head.

"What did that little brat lie about this time?" Sanae said, rolling her eyes. Lady Akyuu Hieda's  _Gensokyo Chronicles_ had filled with exaggerations and gossip as the writer entered her teens. The Child of Miare had given the priestess a double dose of vitriol.

"It wasn't her," Yuyuko said. "But with all the stories, I wanted to meet you."

"Tell me what they say about me," Suwako said, bouncing in front of the ghost princess.

"Such matters should be beneath a goddess," Kanako said, drifting away from where Yuyuko spun her tales for her captive audience.

"Is that advice?" Sanae asked, wincing. Before the Moreya shrine appeared in Gensokyo, some of the stray worship of the adherents had settled on her, deifying the young wind priestess. She had yet to grow accustomed to the adoration or the responsibilities inherent in her divinity.

"No, but this is. Don't let Suwako catch you dressed like Lady Yuyuko."

Sanae glanced at the courtesan ghost. While the thin robe covered everything, what it flattered and teased made promises that no young woman living under the thumb of two goddesses felt comfortable making. Maybe on her wedding night... "I wasn't aware she had a proscription against lingerie."

Kanako laughed, flying circles around Sanae's head. "She doesn't. Do you want her to pester you every five seconds about when she can expect grandchildren? I've never seen a goddess not tied to fertility be so baby crazy."

As her cheeks burned, Sanae wondered, not for the first time, if Reimu's shrine had need of an assistant.

A shrill scream echoed throughout the garden.

"Youmu!" Yuyuko cried, taking flight.

* * *

Fragrant sandalwood incense hung in the cavern air, making Marisa Kirisame's eyes water. "You can stop that now," the witch said, wheezing. She covered her mouth with a white handkerchief.

"Parsee always burned it as a prayer to her god," Yamame Kurodani said, tossing another stick of the expensive wood onto her missing friend's altar. Yellow tongues of flame leaped from the small stone shrine, adding new smoke to the haze shrouding the air. "Maybe her god will provide for her safe return."

The foreign bridge princess, Parsee Mizuhashi, had vanished without a trace, much to her friends' concern. Yamame and Kisume had pooled together enough money to hire help. Marisa initially refused the job, but Yamame's silver tongue and Kisume's reluctance to leave the witch's house wore her down. Now she wanted to find the missing youkai before the shrinemaidens could swoop down and claim the credit.

"You're covering all your bases, aren't you," Marisa said. She walked in a growing semi-circle away from the bridge guard's shrine. The air was clearer the farther she strayed from the altar.

"If it helps find Parsee, I'll do it. Earth spiders don't have many friends outside of their own," Yamame said. She coughed as a thick plume puffed up in her face. "I think you're right. That should be enough."

"What about Kisume?" Marisa continued her walk, her dry, scratchy eyes searching the stone floor. Yamame had brought her to Parsee's house to try to find clues to the bridge guard's disappearance. Marisa had almost given up on the task. Either Parsee had been a neat freak, or someone had swept the floor until only rock remained.

"She doesn't have that many friends either. After that slanderous human princess got done unleashing her poison pen, everyone's afraid Kisume's trying to take their head," Yamame said. She knelt before the altar and clapped her hands together.

Marisa sighed at another of Akyuu's tiny lies. "Where is Kisume?"

The spider youkai opened her eyes. "Not now. My prayer must rise to heaven with the smoke."

The witch rolled her eyes as she stepped around a pillar. She lived among spirits and gods, but she preferred the predictability of energy and mana to the capricious wills of the divine. She'd leave that to Reimu and Sanae. She held out her elemental furnace and channeled just enough energy to light it up like a flashlight. The haze scattered the light into a dim glow all around her, but as Marisa swept the beam through the stone tunnel, something shone back.

Looking over her shoulder at the praying spider, Marisa smiled and pulled the brim of her hat lower. The furnace in her had dulled as she walked towards the glimmer. Kneeling, she picked up a seashell shaped scale the size of her hand. Light shimmered across the pearlescent surface, adding faint reds and greens to the white. "Yamame, any snakes down here?"

"No. Utsuho's death on them," the spider snapped, still kneeling at the altar of a foreign god. Not only did the raven hate snakes around her raven friends' nests, the reptiles made for good eating when roasted by her power.

Marisa chuckled as she turned the scale over. Someone had missed this in their meticulous clean up, but Marisa's magpie nature had drawn her to this clue. For a moment, she thought that she'd have to resort to the Hakurei School of Incident Solving. Most of the earth spirits had yet to forgive her for her rampage so many months ago. During Utsuho's madness, Marisa had spread the light of love with a heavy hand throughout the Underground. Someone had finally pointed her towards the Palace of the Earth Spirits just to get rid of the witch before she could tear the Underground apart. But with a little sympathetic magic, Marisa could track down the scale's owner.

Pocketing the scale within the pockets of her skirt, Marisa strode to the altar and place her hand on Yamame's shoulder. "Say another prayer for Parsee for me."

The spider's lips stopped moving. "Do it yourself," she said, shrugging out of Marisa's grip.

"I'm not on speaking terms with most gods. It's a witch thing," Marisa called out, walking up the tunnel towards Gensokyo's surface. "Don't get up. I'm just going for a little fresh air." She tossed her furnace into the air and caught it. Patting the scale in her pocket, Marisa said to herself, "And after that, I'll see what secrets I can drag into the light."

* * *

The floor stretched below Youmu as a force like a giant's hand pinned her to the ceiling. A light coat of frost clung to her clothes. This wasn't the first time her new skills went as she explored their boundaries. But Master Youki was no longer by her side, offering the sage advice that kept her from careening out of control as she sped around the pavilion. He had left some time ago without saying why, sending only the occasional message, like the postcard Youmu kept next to her heart, to let his student know that he was alive. Now she had to rely on her own talent and luck as she tried to master her powers.

After a week of trial and error, Youmu had learned that she was good at sticking things together. Rocks to each other, Lady Yuyuko's favorite robes to the floor, her own back to the ceiling. Separating what she had joined together had proved to be beyond her. Fortunately, whatever spell Youmu had tapped into would fade over time. Right now, though, that left Yuyuko greeting guests in her nightclothes while Youmu clung to the ceiling, watching as ghosts circled her.

Any danmaku user in the land of the living learned that magic drew fairies like moths to flame. The same spell card in the Netherword drew ghosts. As annoying as fairies could be, at least the mischievous girls didn't try to evict souls from their owner's bodies. Half-ghosts like Youmu quickly learned that their grip on their body was even more tenuous, a consequence of her dual nature.

She screamed again as the free-floating vapor hovered less than an arm's length away. Normally, the swordswoman would brandish one of her swords at the phantom, but both her swords and her arms stuck fast to the wooden ceiling. The foggy specter crept closer...

The door crashed open and paper charms whistled past Youmu. The card sized amulets clung to the wood around her. One tagged the spirit; its vapor form spiraled around on itself and vanished. The swordswoman closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief as Yuyuko and her guests ran in. Then the force that bound her to the ceiling gave way.

"How did you get me down?" Youmu asked. The pale gardener rubbed her arms, shivering. Yuyuko draped a blanket over the girl's shoulders.

Sanae's eyes shifted towards Kanako as she sipped her tea. After checking on Youmu after she fell, Yuyuko had ushered everyone into a dining room, where they knelt around a low table. "It's..." she began, pursing her lips and swallowing. "A knack."

"It takes extensive training to be a priestess," Kanako said. She splashed water from a bowl over her hands and lips. Ritually clean, she reached for her mug. "There's so many secrets to learn." The goddess leveled a cold stare at her priestess. "And keep."

"Kanako's being modest," Suwako said. The earth goddess slid her cup towards Youmu. The gardener picked it up, clutching the mug in bloodless hands. "She's been showing Sanae all sorts of tricks-"

"Suwako-" the diminutive sky goddess growled.

"Those aren't  _my_  secrets," she said, smiling as Yuyuko laughed behind her fan.

"I wish I had a teacher," Youmu said, holding a hand over her heart.

Yuyuko froze mid-laugh. Snapping her fan shut with a flick of her wrist, she sat up straight. "Why don't you show them what you can do?"

Youmu's eyes widened and she clutched the blanket tighter around her body. "Lady Yuyuko-"

"There's no need-" Kanako began.

"I want to see!" Suwako said. Sanae buried her face in hand as her goddess bounced to her feet.

Yuyuko held her servant in her gaze. The ghost queen tapped her closed fan twice against her wrist. The gardener sighed and shrugged her way out of the blanket. "It's a bit embarrassing," Youmu said. "Help me if this doesn't work."

Sanae nodded, slapping two paper charms covered in angular glyphs onto the tabletop. "Ready."

Closing her eyes, Youmu exhaled sharply. On her next breath, she drew in more than air. Ghostly light imbued the young woman, making both her human and ghost selves radiate a diffuse white light. As the light brightened, a thin sheen of white clung to her clothes.

"Pretty," Suwako and Sanae whispered in unison.

"Not so much!" Kanako shouted, diving to the floor.

Youmu's eyes snapped open. Then, as if someone had jerked her to feet, the swordswoman flew across the table, slamming into Sanae. Both girls tumbled in a heap together until Youmu's power pinned them against a wall.

"Can I do that?" Suwako asked her fellow goddess. Unlike other shardholders, Suwako had yet to manifest her art.

"I apologize, she's still learning," Yuyuko said, standing up.

Groaning as the smaller girl smothered her, Sanae clawed her arm free. Fumbling blindly, she pulled paper charms from her skirt. She shuffled the stack with her thumb, until out of the corner of her eyes, the priestess found a blue-inked charm and pressed in against Youmu's back. Both girls fell away from the wall.

"I'm so sorry," Youmu said. The gardener patted down her clothes, tugging out wrinkles. As her hands brushed over her vest, her eyes widened and she looked around frantically.

"There's no need to worry about it," Sanae said. She knelt, picking up a handful of paper charms that littered the floor. Not for the first time, the priestess gave silent thanks to Kanako for the suggestion to etch cancelling glyphs onto some of her charms.

"Has anyone seen-" Youmu said, darting around the room. She trailed off when she saw her liege.

Like a Classical statue, Yuyuko stood still, frozen in place as she read a postcard. Had the ghost possessed veins and the blood which ran through them, the color would have drained from her face. Yet the vibrancy of color and presence familiar to the Queen of the White Jade Pavilion had vanished, like a candle snuffed out. Silent, she flipped the postcard over once and again before handing it back to Youmu. Gathering her robe around her, she glided out of the room.

"Lady Yuyuko-" Youmu said, chasing after her.

The ghost princess stopped at the door and held up her hand. "Make sure our guests are attended to," she said tonelessly. "I will return." The door closed behind her.

* * *

Suwako crept from bush to bush through the White Jade Pavilion's immense garden. Occasionally, she caught a flash of white or pink among the green leaves and brown sand. A courteous guest would have left Yuyuko the space she needed to compose herself after fleeing Youmu's room. Goddesses dealt in revelation, however, not courtesy. The ghostly queen of paradise reeked of secrets, a fragrance irresistible to the earth goddess. Bringing every hidden thing to light was just part of her divine mandate, although Suwako would be the first to admit that she loved juicy gossip for its own sake.

Splitting her essence and attention between two autonomous twins was child's play for a goddess. Lurking around juniper and cherry trees without tipping off Yuyuko wasn't. Not only did Suwako have to hide her physical form, but her divine essence shone like a candle in the dark, even in the purity of the White Jade Pavilion. And she had to do it while her other self listened to Kanako as she grilled Youmu inside the manor. Yet Yuyuko walked onward, never turning as she approached the solitary cherry tree that dominated the garden. Unlike the other trees, it had yet to blossom. Unlike the others, it reeked of corruption and decay wrapped in ethereal beauty. And Lady Yuyuko Saigyouji, Mistress of the White Jade Pavilion, just curtsied to the foul plant like a vassal.

Suwako ground her teeth as her hands sought the comfort of the steel rings at her side. Once again, she wished for her old power. She had long accepted her loss, but her pre-shatter self could have put deed to longing, withering that cherry tree with a single word. Now, she would have to scrimp and save faith through the years. What good was faith without works?

Clenching her eyes shut as though in pain, Yuyuko turned away from the tree and she clapped her hands once. The sky fell. Instead of raining, the clouds themselves crashed to the ground. Only a wide ring around the dreaming ghost escaped the dense fog. Finding herself within the eye of whatever storm the ghost had called down, Suwako sneaked a quick glance over her shoulder. The fog behind her billowed and roiled in a churning wall of mist and souls. A physical chill ran through Suwako's incarnation, different from the spiritual torpor that filled the realm. So many ghosts in one area sucked the heat from the surroundings. Already, the first snowflakes floated on the wind like cherry blossoms.

The ghostly courtesan clapped her hands again. Misty tendrils draped over the goddess. With each touch, the dead whispered their desires. To live again, to take the petite girl's body from her. Fleeing her hiding place, the earth goddess strode into the shrinking clearing. Faking a jaunty smile, she said, "Alright, you found me."

Yuyuko opened her eyes and caught Suwako's gaze. A tear ran down her cheek as she wordlessly pleaded with Suwako. No goddess worthy of worship could help but be captivated by a soul in such anguish. Suwako's heart broke as Yuyuko mouthed one single word...

...the danmaku ripping through her mid-section caught the goddess by surprise.

Wind sursurated through the leaves of the Pilgrim's Shade like laughter.


End file.
